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Amazon will no longer publicly test its Scout delivery robots
It's also 'reorienting' the program and matching team members to other roles within the company.
Boston Dynamics trains Spot the robot dog to charge itself
The company also announced a robotic arm and browser-based control system.
Amazon is testing its Scout delivery robots in Georgia and Tennessee
Amazon expands tests for its Scout delivery robot to Atlanta and Franklin, Tennessee.
Amazon's Scout is cute but it won't bring humans and robots closer
With the introduction of its latest delivery drone iteration, the Scout, Amazon is once again reassuring the shopping public that automated package delivery services are just just around the corner. Just as they've been promising since 2013, when founder Jeff Bezos went on 60 Minutes and claimed that the technology would be commonplace within 5 years. But unfortunately for his predictions, the march of progress rarely sticks to a set schedule.
Amazon starts testing its ‘Scout’ delivery robot
Amazon is working on delivery robots, and it's already bringing the self-driving machines to the streets. Starting today, six Amazon Scout devices are delivering packages in a neighborhood in Snohomish County, Washington, north of Amazon's Seattle home base. While the robots can navigate by themselves, an Amazon employee will accompany them, at least for now.
Amazon shopping test recommends products based on your likes
Online stores have a common problem: you usually get recommendations based solely on what you've already seen or bought, which isn't much good if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Amazon is testing a solution that might eliminate that indecisiveness. Its experimental Scout feature recommends products based on little more than like and dislike buttons below product images. If you give the thumbs-up to modern table lamps, you may be shown more cutting-edge designs and fewer vintage models.
Mozilla may be working on a voice-controlled browser
Mozilla may be working on a voice-controlled platform of its own. A listing for an all-hands internal meeting appeared about what seems like a new project: Scout. "With the Scout app, we start to explore browsing and consuming content with voice," it read. It's very unclear what the platform may or may not end up doing, as the meeting is focused on technical requirements for a "voice browser" that would, as a stated example, be able to read users an article about polar bears.
The best home security system
By Rachel Cericola and Grant Clauser This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.
Cardinals scout sentenced to 46 months for hacking another team
Last June, the FBI began investigating the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking computers of the Houston Astros to access confidential scouting reports on the teams players. Christopher Correa, the Cardinals' former director of baseball development, plead guilty to five charges of unauthorized access of a protected computer back in January. Today, the FBI in Houston announced that Correa was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for tapping into the Astros' player files without permission. He's also required to pay $279,038 in restitution for the incident.
The Scout navigation app adds chat, meetups and personalized traffic
Scout has always been a worthwhile free alternative for people looking for something beyond Google and Apple Maps. A just-issued update gives users predictive, intuitive traffic push notifications for users' everyday trips, eliminating the need to manually check for traffic delays. Also added is a chat function for groups, so you can coordinate getting together. The app also supports inviting guests from contact lists, picking a day, time and location. Then Scout offers real-time location and ETA insights so guests are able to view the position of other guests on the navigation map. Scout is powered by OpenStreetMap (OSM), which is not best-in-class navigation data, but it is used a lot and is frequently updated. I gave the updated Scout a try and found all functions to work well. The ETA feature is similar to Glympse, but not as flexible feature-wise. The chat functions works, but should never be used while driving. The personalized traffic reports are a clever idea, and you can schedule report updates giving you road conditions and advising you of alternate routes. I still don't think the Scout POI database can touch Google or even Apple's, but it is serviceable. Scout is certainly worth a look, and many people will like the integration of traffic, ETA and the chat function for getting groups together in a coordinated way. Scout offers a subscription service that provides offline maps, but at US$25.00 a year Scout starts to brush against better and less-expensive competitors. Scout requires iOS 7 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5. Hopefully another update will let it more fully match the screen resolution of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Tree of Savior Q&A 13 on tradeable items, scouting, and more
Tree of Savior's latest English dev blog features some interesting gameplay nuggets, chief among them the binding/trading mechanics and the game's map system. Lead developer Hakkyu Kim says that all in-game items are freely tradeable, which differentiates ToS from many of its bind-on-equip or bind-on-pickup contemporaries. There is a catch, though, and it is that an item's Potential stat will decrease by one whenever it's traded. The map system generally shows the location of your party members but not other players. However, Scouts can "select a spot on the map to find out which players or enemies are there and share this info with party members." There's more to this week's dev blog, so click through the links below to give it a full read.
Telenav Scout for iOS now powered by OpenStreetMap
The Scout iOS app (free, with one in-app option) from navigation provider Telenav gets a solid update today with the addition of OpenStreetMap (OSM) as the mapping provider. OSM is sort of like Wikipedia, a crowd sourced and vetted navigation solution that is often updated faster and more accurately than commercial map databases. The rollout of the new maps starts today and most users will see updated maps before the end of the week. "As a mapping platform, OSM is a credible alternative to proprietary solutions, with the added advantage of instant updates, resulting in a more accurate and up-to-date map," said Steve Coast, founder of OpenStreetMap and Telenav's head of OSM. "Roads change, subdivisions are built, and freeways expand so, just like all other maps, it needs updates on an ongoing basis. Today's launch has effectively added millions of editors to the OSM global community, breathing even more life into an already exploding free and open-sourced project." Scout was a US-only navigation app, but with OSM Scout will now be able to compete globally. The new street maps add even more to what is already a popular free navigation solution. Scout offers turn-by-turn voice directions, traffic reports, the ability to download regional maps to cut your data usage, and a Glympse-like feature that lets you show your position and arrival times to friends. I took the app out for a spin taking special notice of how OSM did in some new neighborhoods in my part of town. The streets were there despite the new construction, and even showed more detail of small curves than Apple Maps did. One of my favorite things about Apple Maps is integration with Siri, but Scout has a feature where you can say "Hey, Scout" without even touching your iPhone. Follow that with directions, like "take me to the nearest gas station" or "find the nearest pharmacy", and you're set. Since I never have to touch the phone, Scout is one-up on Siri which requires a button press to activate. One thing I did notice in my area is that Scout is weaker in terms of its points of interest (POI) listings. Asking Scout to take me to the nearest Ace Hardware store offered me an 11-mile trip, but Apple Maps knew there was a recently opened store just 1.1 miles away. Google Maps missed the new hardware store, too. Of course, the accuracy of Scout's data will depend on where you live. Still, Scout is a terrific bargain for free. Scout also offers Scout Plus, which is a U.S. $24.99 yearly subscription that adds lane assist, traffic alerts with rerouting, speed trap alerts, and speed warnings. It's a nice package, but I am not wild about subscriptions, and I think the basic Scout package is quite full-featured and reliable. Adding OpenStreetMap is a big step. From my look at it, the maps are easily as complete as Google's and Apple's offerings and may be updated more often since users can report issues, changes and new construction directly from the app. Telenav says to expect monthly updates, all based on user input that is then vetted. I have no hesitation in recommending Scout to TUAW readers, and incorporating OSM is a real positive. Scout requires iOS 7 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Scout GPS app keeps your gas and coffee detour to a minimum
Telenav wants its latest Scout update for iPhone to stand out from other nav apps by giving what it claims 80 percent of us want while driving: gas, coffee, or food. You can now select a spot serving one of those sans typing and be sure it's decent thanks to a user feedback feature that even accounts for the time of day. Then, Scout will only search places on the road ahead, not behind, to efficiently re-route you -- a feature surprisingly lacking in most GPS apps. Other new tweaks include a guide to the closest and cheapest parking, real-time ETA info relayed to your loved ones and the ability to report traffic conditions, even when not navigating. All of this is free, though it only works in the US and certain features, like offline maps, require a $24.99 in-app buy.
This is the final hardware for Scanadu Scout: a real, functioning tricorder
It's been a long time coming, but a real, functioning tricorder is almost here, and we got to see the final hardware for it today at CES. Scanadu Scout is its name, and in case you aren't familiar, we've been tracking the little hand-held human health tracker since its inception in late 2012. Since that first glimpse of a prototype, the device has gotten a new design, been funded to the tune of more than $1 million on Indiegogo and the two devices you see above are the versions that'll be shipping out to backers at the end of March. The devices themselves are tightly crafted, with uniform seams around the chrome bits, and while they feel solid, they are still quite lightweight. Getting to this point hasn't been easy, however, as Walter de Brouwer, Scanadu's founder and CEO, tells us that the toroidal design he and his team dreamed up has proven exceedingly difficult to manufacture. Despite that fact, the tooling up has begun, and rest assured; the devices that make their way to the public will look like the ones we saw. And, should you like to live vicariously through us, you can see more of Scout in our gallery below, along with a few screenshots of the still-in-development companion app, too.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: Scanadu CEO Walter de Brouwer
Health care devices are, once again, all the rage at this year's CES, and Scanadu's got one of the more ambitious offerings. The company's Scout device aims to be a $150 Star Trek-esque tricorder that'll give users readings for heart and breathing rate, temperature, blood pressure and blood oxygenation levels. We've got the company's founder and CEO Walter de Brouwer to discussion his vision for the future of health care. January 7, 2014 6:00:00 PM EST Follow all the latest CES 2014 news at our event hub, and check out our full stage schedule here.
Scout iOS navigation app is updated with hands-free voice commands
Scout has been a popular free navigation app for iOS that includes turn-by-turn directions and crowdsourced traffic information. It also has reliable directions to restaurants, shops, gas stations and all the other destinations you may want. Today, Scout was updated to include hands-free voice commands. Unlike Siri, where you have to hold down a button to start talking, Scout will listen to your commands without any type of physical input on your behalf. If Scout is running, you can say "Hey Scout" to get the app to pay attention, and then tell Scout where you want to go. Sadly, the theory is better than the reality. When I asked "Where are the nearest restaurants?" Scout replied with a street address in Bullhead City, Ariz., hundreds of miles away from me. Asking for the nearest gas stations got me a list of Honda dealers, one in New Jersey. And so it went. I tried it in noisy and quiet environments, but seldom got a correct hit. The app works great when physically touching any of the points of interest icons, and gave reliable navigation, but the voice recognition misses almost every request. I like the idea of saying "Hey Scout" and never touching my phone to initiate a trip, but this new feature simply didn't work for me. Although Siri does require a button press, it almost always parses my phrases correctly. I should add that if your phone auto-locks, Scout becomes deaf so your requests won't be heard. Scout does have a lot of features not included in the Apple Maps app. The app has destination sharing, and it lets you know what events are happening in your community. The Scout database is good and detailed, but voice response clearly needs work. Scout requires iOS 6 or later, It's not a universal app, so it's best suited to the iPhone. The app is optimized for the iPhone 5. Scout does offer enhanced features either monthly or yearly as an in-app purchase, but most people will be able to get along just fine with the free version, unless they try talking to it.
BioWare highlights SWTOR's Scout starfighters
Hey, Star Wars: The Old Republic fans, BioWare has released a Galactic Starfighter-themed dev diary that you might want to read. It's penned by designer Bret Hoffman and it features Scout Class Starfighters. Hoffman says that Scouts are designed for "speedy gameplay" and evoke "classic Star Wars ships like the A-Wing and TIE Interceptor." In SWTOR's PvP-themed space expansion, Scouts are the fastest ships and therefore are often first into battle. Superior maneuverability makes them effective dogfighters, but not all Scouts are the same. Some are built almost entirely for speed while others boast more powerful weaponry and defenses. Click through the links below to learn more.
Telenav Scout adds real-time, user-reported traffic data to iOS and Android apps
Telenav has been steadily improving Scout, its personalized navigation platform, ever since its introduction. Today, Scout users will finally get the crowd-sourced traffic info they were promised back in April. Scout for both iOS and Android now provides you the wisdom of its 100 million users and traffic partners, allows you to see which roads are congested and calculates up to three possible routes -- letting you find the most efficient way from point A to point B. That real-time traffic info augmented with user input also enables drivers to share a more accurate estimated time of arrival, so your dinner date will know exactly how long you'll be delayed due to that unforeseen fender-bender on the freeway. Additionally, the update adds several new recommendation categories to its Things to Do feature, so it'll now tell you about live music, local festivals and outdoor activities, too. Sound good? You know the drill, Google Play and the App Store await.
EVE Evolved: A guide to roles in fleet PvP
It seems as if every time the topic of PvP comes up in an EVE Online news post or article, a few people will chime in with stories of their horrible experiences with it. This seems almost baffling to me, as I would say EVE offers the best PvP experience in the entire MMO genre. It soon becomes apparent that we aren't playing the same game and that their experience is one of helpless newbies being ganked by evil blobs of bad guys. If that describes your first few days in the depths of space, you may well have missed out on some incredible fights. For me, PvP in EVE means fleet warfare; it's all about co-ordinated groups of players hunting around the map for other fleets they can probably defeat while avoiding all the larger fish that will swallow them whole. The players on PvP ops are always itching for action, but a good fleet commander will carefully weigh enemy fleets and be sure to engage only when he thinks he has the upper hand. Figuring out ways to fight above your weight or look weaker than you are play an important role in the PvP metagame, turning EVE into a kind of intergalactic game of poker played by fleet commanders using their pilots as betting chips. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at all the different roles that make a successful fleet and what you'll need to fill that role.
Scanadu Scout tricorder tops $1 million in funding, now comes in black
Scanadu clearly knows to tap into our collective Star Trek dreams, as the company just reached $1 million in funding for its Scout tricorder. The backing so far comes from people in 91 countries, including luminaries like Eugene Roddenberry (who else?) and Steve Wozniak. That figure is more than symbolic, we'd add -- backers who've paid for a Scout can now get theirs in black rather than a clinical-looking white. Should the new color option prove tempting, it's not necessarily too late; as of this writing, there's still a few days left to make a pledge.
